我可爱的土地 Տունս քաղցր ա

For 11-year-old Vrej, life in his homeland Artsakh is like a paradise, but when war starts again, can he carry a nation’s hopes on his young shoulders?

Vrej, the subject of Sareen Hairabedian’s impressive feature debut – a striking coming-of-age tale – has grown up in Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan. Since the end of the Soviet era it has witnessed much conflict. The 11-year-old watches birds, plays with friends and dreams of being a dentist. But echoes of the three wars his family have lived through since 1992 are ever-present. His grandmother laments the cycle of ethnic violence: ‘Living in Artsakh means that one day there will be a war and my grandson will participate in that war’. As his school lessons become increasingly militarised and Vrej struggles to hold on to his childhood dreams, his grandmother watches her prophecy unfold.